Perfect headline for the podcast. BTW, the NY Times badly needs headline writers.
I’m trying to figure out a strategy when do I dip my toe into this early access games.
One of the issues the podcast raised, is how do you know when a game leaves early access?
I guess watch this thread seems like the best idea.
I am not against Early Access, but I am against getting in on day 1 of early access. I don’t have a hard and fast rule, but waiting a year and for an “overwhelmingly positive” average on Steam is a good indication that the game is actually a game and not just a tech demo.
That seems like a good rule of thumb, give it an year and positive ratings. I’m pretty sure that Old World is the exception, and an honest to god Beta release, that was fun and playable on when it entered early access and just need some refinement and bug fixes.
This si where I’m at with something like Going Medieval… A feudal Rimworld clone sounds just about perfect, but I want to let it bake a bit more to make sure it isn’t just a cash grab
2 weeks away!
Who would have thought a few years ago that “flying city builder” would be its own sub-genre.
Normally, I’d hold off as well, but Those damn Three Moves Ahead guys keep raving about it and its making it difficult to resist. :)
Foundation received a monster update to the UI a few days ago. I haven’t booted it up yet, but the screenshots look really appealing
Another flying city game.
Anyone play Flotsam recently? Still in EA, but getting pretty frequent updates.
I enjoyed playing the demo of Against the Storm on Epic, even though I didn’t really have any idea what was doing. It’s still EA, I guess, not done yet, but there’s a simple, nice-looking game there. Hopefully they make it more clear what all the little symbols mean and what you’re really trying to do.
I mean, the main problem I had was “ok, my workers want these 19 things to be happy, but I only know how to make 2 things”.
Anyway, there’s three different races of workers who have different needs. You get little quests (“build two lumber mills and produce 8 lumber”) which you have to fulfill to complete the map (before your workers all get pissed off and leave, or the queen gets too impatient with you), then you move on to the next map. There’s some kind of overworld where you buy upgrades and decide where to build next.
I like the aesthetic of it, I hope the game grows into it :)
Before we Leave looks like it will be getting a big patch soon for planet editing.
This. I’m not a painter, I’m a player. I want my games to challenge me a bit. It’s also why I should love Planet Zoo and just don’t enjoy it very much. For those with a creative flair these games are great. For someone like myself? I want the developers to do that work :)
I enjoyed that a lot, thanks.
On GOG as well.
Starmancer is also on Gamepass.
Thank you for posting this! As somebody who is making something that is medieval city-builder adjacent, these types of things are incredibly helpful to read through. I’m trying to fold in as many realistic concerns of the era as I can that can be made interesting from a gameplay perspective. But as the article points out, there are good reasons a lot of key pieces of medieval settlements don’t show up in games.
Atomic Society updated to 1.0